


Angel Of Mercy

by Mauryn (tate886)



Category: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Genre: Friendship, Multi, hurt comfort, potential romance.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-11-19 12:55:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 18,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11313843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tate886/pseuds/Mauryn
Summary: Maurice secretly cares for an injured human woman,and a strong friendship develops. Will his friend be revealed to the Ape colony, and what will happen then? May contain romance later on.





	1. chapter 1

Maurice did not know if he were just getting old or if the winters were really getting harder each year. What he did know, however, was that without the mysterious packages of dried foods in the harsh wintertime, Apes like him might have died out years ago.

 

 

 

But where did these gifts come from? Maybe more importantly, who was sending them? Why were they so secretive about it?

 

At first, many Apes were against using the contents of the packages. Some feared the food was poisoned. Caesar had been about to test some of the food himself, but Maurice had grabbed it from his Leaders' hands and ate it without hesitation. Caesar had been furious, but it had turned out well in the end..

 

This was how Maurice fell into the habit of collecting the first packages of the season, and testing the first piece. And this was how he now found himself waiting, hidden in the trees on a cold winter's night.

 

Some Apes, Koba being the most vocal among them, still had their doubts. Maurice was determined to prove them, to prove Koba, wrong, once and for all.

 

So he waited ... and waited ... and waited some more. Just as he was about to give up, a tiny pinprick of light bobbed towards him through the forest. The old Orangutan sat still, barely even breathing, as the figure came closer. It stopped just beneath the tree where Maurice waited. It was carrying a familiar-looking cloth-wrapped bundle in its arms. It was clad in dark fur, a hood obscuring its features. It stood still for a moment, turning its head this way and that, observing its surroundings.

 

Then, as the figure bent down, its hood fell away from its face. Maurice suppressed a gasp.

 

The figure was a human!

 

The big Orangutan almost held his breath as he watched the human carefully conceal the wrapped bundle underneath the tree. When its stood up again, its furs slid back, and Maurice could see it was a human female.

 

A _human_ , living so close to the Ape colony! Maurice groaned inwardly, imagining the Apes' reactions when they knew. Especially Koba. He would be infuriated to know there was a human nearby. It wouldn't matter that she had never caused them one bit of harm. It wouldn't matter that she had been helping them with her gifts. Koba would want her driven out ... or dead!

Caesar would never permit that, of course. He would never condone her killing. So why was this thought of her dying now lodged in Maurice's head so firmly.

 

The human female seemed to sense Maurice's sudden anxiety. She stiffened, looking about her with a troubled expression.

 

"Hello," she croaked. Her voice sounded stiff, maybe from disuse. "Is … is someone there?"

 

"Thank you."

 

The words slipped from the old Orangutan's mouth before he could stop them.

The effect on the human was startling. She tensed and gasped. With one more desperate frightened look that tore at Maurice's heart, the female turned on her heels and bolted for cover.

 

Maurice was mentally kicking himself even before the human ran away in terror. What had possessed him to try and speak out loud to this human female, anyway? It was not as if he, or most of the Apes, ever spoke out loud much, not even to one another. So, why had he done it?

 

And, was his voice really so terrifying? He had soothed many a frightened youngling and female with his voice many times. But, well, this one was a human after all, and human females seemed far more delicate than Ape females.

 

As Maurice silently descended the tree, he could not help but notice that the female was not making as quiet an exit as she had made her entrance. And then, the sounds of her retreat stopped. There was a single cry, a small thud, and then nothing at all.

 

Maurice froze in the act of gathering up the female's gifts. What had happened? He waiter for what felt like an eternity, but still nothing.

Finally, not being able to stand not knowing, Maurice began to make his way towards the direction where the last sounds of the human had come. And it did not take him long to find her. She lay sprawled on her back beneath one of the largest trees. A large limb lay on her chest. And Maurice could smell the faint scent of blood.

 

Cautiously, he approached, but she did not stir at all. Was she already dead?

 

_It's my fault,_ the old Orangutan scolded himself even as he moved to examine her more closely. _No, please don't be dead. I did not want you dead! It's all my fault!_

 

Maurice groaned in mixed sympathy and terrible guilt. Knowing that he cannot just leave her there, helpless against any passing predator, he approached the prone human female slowly. The way his luck was going, if he were not careful, he might just give the poor thing a heart attack. Could humans actually die of fright?

 

Maurice was relieved to see that she was not dead, but there was blood coming from her head. Not a lot, but still far too much for the apes' peace of mind. Sitting down beside her, he tried touching her face, rubbing her hands and arms, but nothing would wake her. Even after he gathered some leaves and pressed them to the wound on her head to try and stop the blood, she did not stir. She never even whimpered.

 

His first instinct was to take her home, his home. He immediately discarded that idea, however. Just imagining Koba's reaction was enough to make him think twice.

 

He kept on trying to wake her up, but with no luck. So, feeling that he absolutely cannot just leave her helpless, he very carefully picked her up, and began to

try and back track her movements to find her own home. If he could find it, he'd get her settled down, then decide what to do from there.

 

* * *

_A/N:_

This is for all of us who just can't get enough of our favorite Orangutan. More coming soon.


	2. Chapter 2

_I really need to take more tracking lessons from Koba and the hunters,_ Maurice thought as he picked his way through the forest. He had never felt lost here before, but the old orangutan feared if he had to go much farther that feeling would be coming over him and soon.

 

It took _forever!_

 

Even for the extraordinarily patient Maurice, it felt like forever and a day before he finally found the human female's home. At least, he hoped it was her home, and that he was not just about to burst in on a bunch of strange and frightened or hostile humans, holding this unconscious female in his arms. He knew how he and the Apes would react were the situation reversed and it was one of their females being carried in injured by a total stranger.

The last time one of their young females was carried in to camp because she nearly drowned, her Father, Koba, had to almost be physically restrained. And Koba was usually uncharacteristically patient with Blue Eyes, who was certainly not a total stranger. But, no one except maybe Blue Eyes' Father, Caesar, ever got in Koba's way where little Mary was concerned.

 

Suppressing a chuckle at that memory, the Ape gently laid the human down in the softest patch of grass he could find. Then, he slowly approached the door. Raising a hand, he lightly tapped on it, and waited. He stood still, his head cocked, listening. No signs of life inside. But the woman's scent was strongest here. This had to be the right place.

 

Returning to the human, he lifted her up again in his arms. She was breathing very slowly and evenly but Maurice was still very concerned. Forcing down his fears about why she still did not whimper or stir in his arms at all, Maurice carried her slowly in to the small house. It was obviously rundown and very shabby, but clean and well organized for all that. Maurice liked its look immediately.

 

Heading towards the back of the house, he found a room with a bed that had obviously been recently used. The human's scent was strongest here, and he was now certain this was her bed.

 

Letting out a quiet huff of relief, he Placed her down on it. He paused then to both catch his breath and observe her for a moment. The blood had nearly stopped running from the cut on her head, and this was good. She did not wake up, however, and this might be bad, very bad. Maurice remembered human circus performers who fell and hit their heads, and a few were taken away never to be seen again. Even an Ape could get such an injury if he were hit hard enough.

 

Reluctantly leaving her to search through the house, he found several containers of water, and other basic supplies. But even after bathing her head, and pressing cold cloths to it, the only other signs of life he could see was that she blinked when too much water ran in to her eyes.

 

_I suppose that is something,_ Maurice thought. It was very cold comfort, though. Right now, he would be happy if she even woke up and started screaming at him.

Tentatively, he began picking various bits of twig and other things from the forest out of her hair, being especially careful around her wound. He smoothed back her thick black hair with his fingers, Still, the woman did not stir.

 

He waited as long as he could, but the night was moving on. If he were late getting back in, there would be tons of questions. Caesar would already have questions that the Orangutan did not yet know how he would answer without revealing the woman's presence.

 

Finding more blankets and sheets in a small closet, he tucked the girl in, making the best most comfortable nest for her he could. Standing and looking down on her,

he heaved a forlorn sigh.

 

_It was so wrong to leave her alone and unprotected like this, but what else could he do?_

 

_Please please don't be dead when I come back,_ he willed her silently, one hand stroking the top of her head with infinite gentleness. Then, forcing himself to turn away, the Orangutan trudged out of the humans' house, and made his way as fast and quietly as he could back to his own home.


	3. Chapter 3

Karin was having the strangest dream of her entire life. She dreamed she had gone to the tree where she always left her package of dried foods for the Apes. But something waited there for her this time. And it spoke to her.

 

She did not ask who or why or what it wanted of her. She simply ran.

 

And that's when the dream really got strange.

 

She dreamed she was hit over the head. She lay on the cold forest floor while someone or something was fussing around her. It tried to wake her up, but her mind refused to give up the peace of unconsciousness. If she was going to finally die here, she was determined to die peacefully in her sleep. It was a better death than anyone in her family had been allowed.

 

Then, she was floating, cradled in the warmest most snug blanket she had ever felt. Her own magic carpet. It was a wonderful ride. For the first time since her world more or less came to an end after the Simian Flu, Karin felt completely safe and secure.

 

The carpet would not let her fall, she knew this somehow.

 

It was almost a shock to be returned to her own bed. But someone or something was still with her, still trying to bring her back to consciousness. Karin was a stubborn woman, though. She refused to wake up and face who or whatever this was.

 

_If you're gonna kill me … or something worse, please just do it now and leave me in peace,_ she thought.

 

Eventually, he, she or it went away. The pain in her head was also easing thanks to some cold water compresses applied, she assumed, by her supposed caretaker.

 

Then, Karin woke up with a start. She might have fallen out of her bed except that she was very nicely tucked in, and the old ragged blankets kept her from hitting the cold hard wood floor with her face.

 

_I wasn't dreaming,_ she told herself. _Something happened in the forest, and something carried me back here? But who?_

 

She was dizzy. It was much easier just to lie in her bed and not try and unwrap herself from her warm cocoon. But as her mind cleared, her fear started to grow. Who or what brought her here? It now knew where her home was, and she was truly all alone, no family or friends left alive to be with her.

The last humans she had seen had been a violent Marauder, and she had had to kill him to save herself. It was the first time she had killed anyone in her life, and the fact it was self-defense did nothing to ease her mind about it.

 

_It was an Ape!_

 

That thought would not leave her head, that an Ape might have been the one who carried her to her home.

 

Karin had only ever met one Ape in her life, and she had barely survived that meeting in the Forest. Was it this Ape who brought her home?

 

No, she could not wrap her head around the fact that this particular Ape might have been so merciful, let alone gentle.

 

Not being able to stand lying still for another moment, Karin began untangling her cocoon of blankets. She was still dizzy, however, and did end up falling out of her low bed onto the floor. She lay there for a long moment, her head throbbing again, and tried to catch her breath. Once her vision began to clear, she saw something.

 

Stretching out one hand, the woman carefully plucked a few hairs from the floor next to her bed. They were very long reddish hairs. At least she thought they were red. Karin was a bit color blind, and the room was dark.

 

Her mind screamed at her again, _ape! But, another part of her mind was trying to tell her that the hairs were all wrong, the wrong color and the wrong length to belong to her former tormentor._

 

Not taking any chances, and feeling like a coward, the woman squeezed herself in to the narrow space beneath her bed. From a corner, she retrieved a long sharp knife. Then, she lay there, trembling, and waiting for it to come back. If it was that Ape, she was not going to let him play with her again. She would probably die in the process, but the woman was determined to leave her mark on him before she went.


	4. Chapter 4

Maurice's day did not go well.

 

He had arrived home just before dawn. Just in time to get very little sleep. Then, he had overslept and missed breakfast, something that had never happened before.

 

He even had to be awakened by a very concerned Cornelia, who had been alerted by the little ones that Maurice was not there to start his usual classes.

 

Usually, it was his youngest students who suffered from distractions and problems paying attention. Not today, though. Eventually, pleading exhaustion, Maurice had called one of the bright young females, Koba's daughter Mary, and had her take over the class for him.

 

Mary was elated that he trusted her so much with such responsibility. But the old Orangutan could not completely appreciate her enthusiasm. He went back to his home and slept some more.

 

After the evening meal, Caesar took Maurice aside for a private talk.

 

"Old friend, are you sick?" Caesar asked, concern written plain in his face and his body language.

 

Inwardly, Maurice winced. Only one day in to his little venture and he was already, what was a good human phrase, blowing it. He would have to do much better than that in the immediate future.

 

"I'm fine Caesar, really," Maurice protested. "I just didn't sleep well last night."

 

"Bad memories?" Caesar asked. Maurice had never seemed to be tormented by bad memories from his life with the humans, not like so many other Apes.

 

"Some," was all Maurice said. "Don't worry about me, Caesar. I'm fine."

 

Maurice watched his Leader, his Savior, his friend for a long time. That was not entirely a lie, was it?

 

"You never talk about your circus life," Caesar said.

 

"And you almost never talk about your human family life," Maurice countered.

 

He was relieved to see his Leader grin.

 

"True," Caesar replied.

""I just figure that no one here would understand. And I do talk about my human family, with Cornelia. She understands."

 

Caesar's wife also came from a loving human family before she wound up in the awful Ape Sanctuary then at Gen-sys.

 

"Cornelia is a strong and kind female," Maurice was genuinely fond, as was everyone, of Caesar's beautiful wife.

 

Maurice cooed fondly as he saw his Leader's whole being soften when the talked about Cornelia.

 

"Alright, but just in case. I am going to try a piece of that new food you brought back with you tonight." Caesar's mind was made up.

 

_Oh no, now he also thinks the food is poisoned! What have I gotten myself in to,_ Maurice fretted. _By trying to help this poor female, am I really just putting her in more danger than ever?_

 

As the Apes all retired for the evening, Maurice sat and waited. He was wide awake now.

He would be going out to check on her again tonight.

 

* * *

 

Karin slept most of the day. Unfortunately, she slept curled up underneath her own bed. Crawling out from that position was painful. Her joints popped and cracked, and she groaned out loud as she bumped her head once again.

 

She swore as the blood ran in to her eyes. Sitting up straighter, she managed to drink a little water before the nausea threatened the little she had swallowed.

 

With an effort, she managed not to throw up the water. Hauling herself up, she lay back on her bed, still swearing at herself. She had not been this clumsy since she was a teenager, and that was literally a lifetime ago.

 

Closing her eyes tight, Karin slept a bit more, and when she awoke, it was now truly dark. At least her headache had subsided a little bit. Now it was only excruciating, not blinding.

 

Sitting up very slowly, Karin got out of her bed. She stood still for a moment to see how badly the ground moved beneath her. It was only a very mild wave. Leaning heavily on her walls, she staggered out of her bedroom in to the living room beyond, then to her small kitchen. She had just started to munch on some dried meat and fruit when there was a tap on her door.

 

The woman froze in mid-chew. Someone or something wanted in to her house?

 

_The Apes! They've come for me!_

 

Taking another sharp knife from her kitchen, Karin started for the door. One of her crazy paranoid survivalist Father's favorite sayings echoed in her head. "If you can't put 'em away, then you go down fighting, baby girl. You make 'em remember you forever!"

 

_She hushed the old man's voice in her head. It had been bad enough having to listen to his ravings while he was alive._

 

_Least you'll get to see Lisa again soon, Karin tried to comfort herself. But even the thought that she would soon be reunited with her long dead little girl was very little comfort._

 

_She held the knife over her head. Reaching her front door, Karin grasped the handle and ripped it open, ready to strike._


	5. Chapter 5

Koba sometime said that Maurice thought too much.

 

The Orangutan normally ignored that comment, but maybe Koba had a small point. While waiting until he could safely get away from the village, Maurice sat deep in thought. This usually comforted him a great deal. But, now it made him feel a lot more uneasy. Less than one day in to his trying to care for the human female, and already Caesar thought her food gifts might be tainted. And even Cornelia was now looking at him worriedly, too.

 

Also, Koba's young Mary was treating him like a doddering old Ape whom might need her help at any moment.

 

How had things gotten so out of hand so quickly? But, it was some small comfort that Koba did not seem to be acting any different around him. The volatile Ape did not seem to be suspicious or even to care much what he did. And, sadly,

 

Maurice knew it was Koba who could cause the most trouble for the recovering human female. For her and for Caesar.

 

But as much as this concerned him, Maurice could not let it stop him. Later that night,

 

there he was again, standing at the woman's house. Knowing his exact destination this time, and being able to travel freely through the trees without having to carry the injured human, he made the trip much faster than before.

 

Tapping on the woman's front door, Maurice was overjoyed. He could hear sounds of movement coming from inside the house. So, she was finally awake and moving around on her own!

 

_But, should she be up and moving around so soon_ , he wondered. But at least she was able to move at all.

 

The old Orangutan made soft happy rumbling noises almost to himself as he waited while the sounds drew closer and closer. Maybe, very soon, he'd be able to communicate with her. It would be nice to at least know her name.

 

Then, the door was violently hauled open. Dim light spilled from inside the house, and Maurice took an instinctive couple of steps back.

 

There she stood framed in her doorway, her faced flushed, her clothing even more rumpled and more ragged then he remembered, her tangled black hair blowing in the wind, one small drop of blood sliding down her forehead, and a knife gripped in her hand and raised high over her head.

 

Their eyes locked. Maurice watched in fascination as her eyes slowly widened and the conflicting emotions played over her haggard face.

 

_She was expecting someone else. She was expecting trouble_ , was his first thought.

 

And, she confirmed this a few seconds later

 

"You're … not … him?," were her first hesitant words ever to Maurice. "You are not him!"

 

Maurice nodded to her in agreement. She still had the knife, so Maurice hoped that by not being this obviously unwelcome _him that that was a good thing._

 

"Are … are you … alone," the female asked. Her jerky hesitant speech reminded Maurice of many Apes who were still struggling to talk.

 

He nodded once again, then stepped aside so she could see past him in to the night.

 

He watched as the female scanned her little clearing, another one of those small lights in the hand that was not holding the knife. Something about the site of that device troubled him, but he could not put his finger on why just yet.

 

He saw that she was focusing more and more on the trees, and he could easily guess what was troubling her.

 

Maurice also looked at the trees, then back at the frightened female. Slowly, he shook his head at her.

 

Maurice watched as the color slowly faded from her face, and with it all the ferocity and strength seem to seep out of her as well. He was desperately trying to think of anything he could do to make her feel more at ease as she began to tremble.

 

He watched helplessly as she lowered the knife to her side, and locked eyes with him yet again.

 

As terrified as she was, she was still determined to look him in the eye. The old Orangutan was very impressed by this, and even more intrigued by this human.

 

"What … what do you want?" she asked in a small voice. Shoving her tiny light in to her clothing, she clutched her door frame for support, and Maurice had to resist the desire to reach out and physically help her.

 

"Do you … do you even understand me?"

Maurice nodded yet again.

 

* * *

 

_I should've just stayed in bed_ , was Karin's first thought as she stared in to the green eyes of her visitor.

 

A part of Karin wondered if this was not some kind of weird concussion dream? She was not really leaning in the doorway of her home just past the edge of night staring at an intelligent Ape, was she?

 

But even as her head throbbed yet again, the vision did not shift or fade away.

 

The Ape slowly raised his, hers, its hands, and began to move its fingers.

 

"Wait."

 

Karin held up one hand, and the Ape stopped moving its fingers.

 

"Is that sign language?"

 

Again, the Ape nodded at her.

 

She sighed heavily. _Great, I find an Ape who seems to want to talk, and I won't be able to understand a word he says … signs! Just your luck, ain't it, Karin old girl!_

 

"I … I don't know sign," she said simply.

 

If she did not know better, Karin would swear that the Ape looked crestfallen. It was how she felt, too.

 

"but … but you do understand my speech, some anyway, right?" Karin added hopefully. She did not want to leave him looking that way. She decided for now to think of it as him because it just seemed more polite. Plus, there was definitely a male air about him.

 

The Ape nodded, but more slowly.

 

"You don't understand?" Karin asked. It was going to be a long night if they had to keep playing twenty questions.

 

The Ape shook his head.

 

"Uh, you understand, some?"

It was her turn to look hopeful.

 

The Ape nodded vigorously

 

"Okay, you understand some. That's, uh, good … I guess."

 

Karin smiled at him. It was a little shaky around the edges, but she was sincere.

 

And was he smiling back … or just baring his teeth at her? Since he was making no other threatening gestures, she chose to take it as a smile. _Please dear God let it be a smile, she thought._

 

"Uh, I'm Karin," she said slowly.

Leaning heavily on her doorway, she lifted one hand and pointed to herself.

"Karin," she repeated. "I am Karin."

 

"Now, I bet you have a name, too," she went on determinedly. "But ow are you going to tell me what it is, though?"

 

"Maurice."

It was the lowest softest of a rumble she had ever heard, but was it also …

 

Feeling very faint, Karin took a slow deep calming breath.

 

"Did … did you just say—" she began faintly.

 

"Maurice," the Ape repeated, pointing at himself the way she had just done.

 

Karin was even more visibly trembling now, her world threatening to go tilt on her any moment.

 

"Okay, Maurice," Karin murmured. "It's real nice to meet you and all that, but I'm going to, uh, to have to sit down now."

 

Karin heard herself speaking. But her voice sounded very far away to her own ears as she managed a barely controlled slide down to her doorstep.

 

As she struggled not to lose both consciousness and her partial supper, she was aware that Maurice had come closer, and was now patting her back very gently.

 

"I'm … I'm okay," she gasped. But, seeing as how her voice was coming from the vicinity of her knees, and shook like that of a woman many times older, no surprise the Ape did not seem convinced.

 

Karin slowly lifted her head, and he really was right there, one long arm extended over her shoulder, marvelous green eyes looking at her with deep concern. She reached out very slowly, and touched his arm, feeling the long thick hair beneath her fingers.

 

"Magic carpet," she murmured with a little laugh.

 

Maurice rumbled and looked confused.

 

"It's okay," Karin said. "Sometimes, I don't understand me, either."

 

Karin tried to stand up, but her legs were still made of soft rubber. The arm Maurice had been using to pat her back quickly moved to encircle her waist.

 

"I don't need—" she began.

 

Maurice made another deep rumbling noise. It almost sounded to Karin as if he were saying, "Are you going to start that nonsense again?"

 

"Okay, I give up," she surrendered. "If you can maybe just help me over there?"

 

She pointed weakly back in to the house, and let Maurice half-lift her to her feet.

 

 

He settled her on her old ragged couch, putting a pillow firmly but gently behind her head. She thought about protesting that the wound was in the front of her head not the back, but decided to keep her mouth shut.

 

Karin stared at this marvelous and gentle ape with something close to awe. Then, he amazed her all over again by going through in to her small kitchen and bringing out the remains of her interrupted meal and putting it on a low table before her.

 

"Thank you," she murmured.

 

She was so touched by him that a few tears slid down her cheeks. Then, it was Maurice's turn to reach out and gently touch her face. He patted her cheek with those long fingers, which only threatened to make her cry even more.

 

Seeming to sense the oncoming flood, Maurice picked up her cup of water and held it out to her.

 

Taking the offered cup, she smiled at him again, and swallowed down her tears.

 

"I get it. Eat now and cry later," she said. "Very wise advice."

 

She ate and drank, offering him some of the dried fruit and her water. He sat on the floor before her and ate what she offered him. And so they passed their first meal together in very nice companionable silence. It was the first meal she had shared with another living being in a long time.

 

Maurice stayed with her most of that night. Not letting her get up from the couch, he put her dishes back in her kitchen. Then, they began the task of furthering communications.

 

Karin almost laughed out loud in delight when she had handed Maurice a pad of worn but still very usable paper and some pencils, and the Ape made a half-hooting half-purring rumbling sound that even Karin could understand. He was also delighted.

 

With a combination of writing, some sign and some speech, they began to tell one another about their lives. Not that she had a whole lot to tell, but his story was so fascinating!

 

And, they nearly lost all track of time.

 

It was very late, or early depending on how you looked at it, when he left her.

 

Maurice tried to reassure her that he'd be fine, but as she watched him go from one of her windows, Karin heaved a sigh. He had not said it out right, but she knew he was taking some chances coming to help her. She knew, from painful experiences and from physical scars Maurice had not seen yet, what would happen to her if the other Apes found out.

 

Once the darling Orangutan had disappeared from her site in the trees, Karin slowly went to her bed, worrying. She was afraid for herself, of course, But for the first time in years, the first time since she'd lost her little Lisa, she was also afraid for another living being.

What would the Apes do to Maurice if their meetings were discovered?

 

* * *

 

Maurice was just settling down for his morning nap in his nest. Karin … he repeated the woman's name over and over in his head. He liked the sound of it for some reason. It was simple enough that even he could pronounce it, well almost, but it had something about it that was very complex, too. The old Orangutan started to drift in to sleep.

 

And, then, he jerked violently awake.

 

_Her little light stick!_

 

Maurice sat bolt upright in his nest bed, trying to remember. She had one with her when she left her gifts at the tree. But had he seen it when he carried her home? Had he seen one after, anywhere? The one she had brandished tonight could be the same one, but what if it was not? What if that little light stick was still lying out there by the Gifting Tree, just waiting for an Ape to find it … an ape like Koba, perhaps!

 

_Well, I'm up for the morning_ , Maurice told himself. He rose from his nest, and tried to smooth down his rumpled hair. It would be so nice to have a female around to help with these little grooming tasks. He decided to go look in and see just how young Mary was getting along with his class. Maybe that would take his mind off of things. But he knew part of his mind was still going to be on his new friend, Karin, no matter what he did.


	6. Chapter 6

"What have you got there, Daughter?"

 

Koba came in to their home without making a sound. His daughter nearly jumped a mile at the sound of his voice.

 

"It's not nice to sneak up on people," she complained. "You made me poke myself. And, it's just a stick, Papa," she hurried on, holding up the almost perfectly rounded piece of wood.

 

Koba frowned down at his adopted child. It was not like Mary to lie to him. For what he was almost certain he had seen in her hands was not made of wood. It bore the faint metallic gleam of a human-made object.

 

For a second, the fierce anger, always so close to the surface, welled up in him. Any child of his ought to know not to bring any human objects in to his home. But still gazing down at the slight form of his daughter, he squashed it. It was usually quite easy for him to control his temper when looking at his little darling. Mary was still so very slight and small and fragile-looking for her age. But while she did not look as robust as the other Ape girls in the Colony, Koba knew she dwarfed them all in her sheer intelligence. And he was proud of her for that.

 

He knelt directly in front of her, and gently drew her forehead to his own.

 

"Not nice to lie either," he told her firmly. "But too tired to argue with you tonight, Mary."

 

"Was it a good hunt, Papa," Mary asked as her Father released her and went to settle in to his bed.

 

He yawned as his daughter came over and idly picked a few leaves out of his fur.

 

"Very good," he told her. "But hard. Why weren't you there to watch our return?"

 

"I was working on something for class tomorrow, Papa," Mary said. "I lost track of time. Uncle Maurice likes how I am handling the little ones in his class. Uncle says I might be Teacher for the village someday

 

"Maurice is very proud of you. Told me so himself," Koba said, trying not to sound too boastful. "And, you will be more than just Teacher someday, Girl. You will lead all of our females."

 

Mary laughed her sweet light laugh.

 

"That's silly, Papa. Only the Leader's wife will lead the females. I don't want to be a Leader's wife. I want to teach."

 

"We'll talk about it later," Koba said through another yawn. "Now try and keep your lesson making down while you're poor old Papa sleeps, Daughter."

 

Koba smiled as Mary sat on the side of the bed and began to sing softly to him. There weren't many words involved, but he thought she had the sweetest voice of any Ape he had ever heard … not that he had ever heard any Ape sing before. Leave it up to his Mary to be different. He lay back, and let the soft sounds of her voice sooth him in to a deep sleep.

And, sometime while he slept, the third ear that never seemed to close for Koba not even in his sleep heard his Mary slip quietly from their home. But she was back almost immediately, her soft coming and goings not enough to wake him.

 

* * *

 

The Ape Leader awoke early the next morning. He felt no ill effects from the dried food he had eaten the night before. So, this was not the cause of Maurice's sudden sleep disorders.

 

Cornelia and Blue Eyes still slept soundly. Moving carefully so as not to wake her, Caesar slipped out of their bed and stepped in to the faint light of dawn. He was surprised to find Koba's young daughter, Mary, waiting outside his home.

 

"Good morning Mary," Caesar greeted the young Ape girl. "You're up and about early this morning. Is everything alright? Koba having a bad night again?"

 

Mary looked up then bowed her head respectfully to Caesar.

 

"Good morning, Uncle Caesar," she said in her quiet voice.

 

At his question about her Father, Mary shook her head. Caesar thought she looked unusually agitated, though.

 

"Papa still sleeps," she went on out loud. Mary never signed unless she had to, always preferring speech over the usual sign language. "I … I wanted to show Aunt Cornelia something."

 

Caesar came down and stood directly in front of the young Ape.

 

"Cornelia sleeps," Caesar told her. "Can you show it to me instead?"

 

Mary frowned, but offered Caesar her small hand. What was in it nearly made the Ape leader gasp in surprise, but he managed to stop himself.

 

"Where did you find this, little one," he asked very gently, taking the object from her hand.

 

"A couple of days ago. It was a little ways away from the Gifting Tree," Mary told him. "There was a little blood on it, I think. But the rain washed most of it away."

 

"It's a … a human thing, isn't it, Uncle," the girl almost whispered, half in awe, half in fright.

 

Caesar nodded gravely.

 

"It … it makes light," Mary went on, still speaking in a hushed voice. Caesar noticed how her eyes kept darting in the general direction of her home.

 

"Does Koba know about this?" Caesar asked.

 

"Oh, no!" Mary's eyes widened. "I … I didn't show it to him. Papa does not like human things not at all."

 

_An understatement_ , Caesar thought. The girl was wise beyond her years.

 

He patted the girl's head affectionately.

 

"Thank you for telling me of this, Mary," he said softly. 'Now you run along and have some breakfast before classes start."

 

As Mary hurried off, Caesar made his way to the home of his oldest and dearest friend. But Maurice still slept soundly in his nest, and Caesar did not have the heart to wake him just to ask about a human flashlight.

 

But he was terribly worried about his friend now.

 

_Oh, Maurice, just what have you gotten yourself in to, I wonder_ , Caesar mused to himself.

He left his friend there to get his much-needed rest.


	7. Chapter 7

_The blasted thing was stuck in yet another knot._

 

"Ouch!" the woman gave an involuntary cry as she tried to pull the tangle out of her hair.

 

Karin winced, and threw the hairbrush aside.

 

She felt dizzy again.

 

By trying to straighten up her house, and herself a bit, she had overdone it. So, now the poor woman lay stretched out on her worn sofa, a cool wet cloth across her forehead, and a scowl on her pinched and haggard face.

 

Besides the hair brush, on the old coffee table in front of her was a bowl with another cloth and some water, and what was left of an old battered book. It was one volume of an old set of encyclopedias several decades old, its cover half torn off, and pages sporadically missing or half moth-eaten throughout. She'd gone to all the trouble of unearthing the ragged thing that she had not seen since her childhood, and only succeeded in aggravating her headache and her dizziness yet again.

 

And, what she searched for was, naturally, mostly in those missing pages

 

_Orangutans …_

 

Karin had hoped to do a little reading up on the species of her newfound friend, Maurice. She wanted to make him as comfortable in her home as she could for as long as he kept coming to visit her. And she did not want to start grilling him with questions no matter how curious she was about him and his people.

 

Also, Karin was not used to being waited on hand and foot by anyone, and had hoped to return at least a little of Maurice's favor.

 

But the book excavation was a disaster, and she had only made herself quite weak by hauling it up from her dark cellar. And all that work for nothing!

 

_If I had the strength, I'd set fire to the blasted thing_ , Karin thought with annoyance. She made a mental note to get rid of all that junk down there as soon as she could. _But I don't even have the strength to brush my own hair._

 

It did not help that it had been ages since she had even bothered to try to do anything at all about her hair. After all, who but her was around to look at it. And Karin had almost stopped caring about much of anything at all. Except that she got the Apes those dried foods in the wintertime, and the small foods she put out for some flocks of birds that lived near her home, she believed she had no other reason to go on living.

 

But then, she did something stupid and hurt herself out in the forest. And he had come. Maurice, an Ape, had taken pity on her pathetic human form, and somehow found his way back to her home, carrying her all the way, and had then set about trying to take care of her as best he could. And he had come back the next night to do pretty much the same thing, take care of her. Not only that, but talk with her. There communications were still a sometime frustrating mixture of his sign language, her human speech, and both their body languages. He was picking up her languages much faster than she was with his, but they were getting by very well with one another.

 

And for the first time in years since she'd lost her little girl, Karin became interested, and curious, and though she dared not admit it even to herself yet, caring.

 

A smile slid across her face. Gingerly turning her head to one side, she glanced at her cluttered table, and then began to laugh a little. Here she was, getting all upset because she could not scrub her house and get her hair nice and neat because an Orangutan, an Ape, would be coming later. The absurdity of that thought made her laugh harder despite the pain in her head.

 

She laughed and laughed until tears flooded down her face. It occurred to her that if anyone were in earshot, her laughter might sound a little insane to them. But she did not care. There was no one in earshot, unless …

 

She looked at her old battered Time X watch, and sprang off the sofa to peer meekly from behind her blackout curtains. She thought it was almost time for her Orang visitor to make an appearance.

 

* * *

 

Those sounds were a little disturbing. Before Maurice could make his usual tapping gestures on her door, he heard the female making those sounds.

 

He stood stock still, listening intently. At first, he was sure she had been laughing, but then it got shriller, and by the time it subsided, Maurice was sure she was either crying or screaming or both. Either way, he knew he needed to get in there, fast.

 

_If she was hurt … if someone Ape or human was in there hurting her!_

 

Maurice suppressed a snarl as he approached her door, his hair bristling, his whole body tensed for a fight and his fists raised. He would pound the thing down to reach her if he must. He would defend her no matter what or who was threatening her!

 

Going to the door, he reared up, ready to give it a mighty blow. But it was his turn to freeze now. It was Karin who opened the door, and there were tears coursing down her face.

 

He watched her take in his appearance, and saw the fear flicker across her face.

 

And, that did it. Without asking her permission his time, he slid a long arm around her waist and lifted her easily up.

 

"Maurice," he heard her gasp. "What … what's wrong?"

 

The old Orangutan did not answer. He simply carried her back in to her house, pausing only long enough to kick the door closed behind them.

He held on to her for another moment, his eyes roving around the living room.

 

"Karin, stay," he rumbled at her as he set her down on the couch. She opened her mouth, but he put a hand on the back of her neck and gave a low rumbling growl at her, and she closed it again.

 

Maurice searched her house thoroughly, but there was no sign of any other living beings or of any threats to the woman at all.

 

He came back in to her main living area where he had left her. She was now curled in a submissive position on her couch.

 

Gazing down at her, the poor old Orangutan felt awful. He knew he had terrified her. It had just occurred to him that while he was behaving as any normal decent male should when defending his female, especially an injured female, Karin might not see it that way. He had to remind himself that she was human, and not as familiar with Ape ways. He had to be far more delicate with her. He also sternly reminded himself that she was not his female in any way shape or form, and never could be.

 

He pushed that last totally ridiculous thought out of his mind and sat on the floor beside her.

 

"Karin?" he rumbled her name as softly as he could manage. "Karin?"

 

* * *

 

Karin heard Maurice making his way none to quietly through her rooms. Now that the initial shock had worn off, it was a toss up to whether she was more frightened or angry.

 

She stayed curled in her tight protective ball until he came back in the room.

 

She heard him say her name, twice, in that wonderfully soft rumbling voice of his. Normally, she loved hearing him say anything, especially her name. His voice was so deep she could almost feel it in her very bones each time he spoke.

 

This time, it just made her furious.

 

"Don't you Karin me?" she cried, springing out of her protective ball and coming to her knees on her couch. She twisted sideways to glare at him.

 

"Why the … What were you … What in the world?"

 

She was trembling with a mixture of rage and fear and bewilderment, so upset she could not complete a full spoken sentence.

 

"Sorry," came the low rumble from deep in the Orangutan's throat.

 

"Not even a Hi. You've got no right to just manhandle, I mean Ape handle me like that … … What—What did you say?" She stopped mid tirade, panting slightly

 

"Maurice … is … sorry," he said it again, speaking very slowly and carefully, his troubled eyes fixed on her flushed face. She thought she could almost feel the regret in their depths.

 

"Sorry," Karin exploded. "Well, if you think that fixes it, then you … well, you're just … You are just …"

 

She was softening towards him now, despite herself. She was running out of steam in the face of his total calmness, and his sad eyes

 

"You scared me half to death, Maurice," she complained more quietly. "The last time an Ape … I mean someone grabbed me like that, I thought he was gonna kill me … or something. Why did you do that?"

 

"And, please don't say Sorry again," she interrupted as he opened his mouth. "I believe that you're sorry. Just tell me why you busted in here like a bull in a China shop?"

 

He blinked.

 

"Never mind about a bull or a China shop," Karin exclaimed, half-laughing now. "For God's Sake, just tell me why you did that, okay?"

 

"Hurt," Maurice said simply.

 

She gaped at him in confusion.

 

"I thought Karin was hurt," he told her in his slow careful way.

 

"But why would you—"

 

She broke off, and made a disgusted sound.

 

"Oh man, you heard me, didn't you? Right before you came in, you heard me laughing and … and—"

 

"Not laughing," Maurice objected. "Crying. Karin sounded hurt."

 

"Oh, Maurice! I'm so sorry," she cried. "It was all my fault then. I just, um, I thought of something silly and I laughed too hard, that's all. It hurt my head."

 

_Not totally a lie_ , Karin thought. _It did hurt my head_. That was not the entire reason, but she did not want to have to try and explain the intricacies to Maurice just now.

 

She looked passed him to her front door. Then her eyes focused again on the big Orang. He managed to look a little sheepish.

 

Karin reached out and patted his hand.

 

'You were really gonna try and break that down, weren't you?" she whispered in awe.

 

"No," Maurice objected. "Not try, would break it down … for Karin."

 

What little bit was left of Karin's fury melted away in a sudden rush of warmth for the big Ape.

 

"Oh," Karin swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. It never ever failed. He always did that to her at least once each visit.

 

ON an impulse, she reached out to put both arms around his neck to hug him, overbalanced, and fell off the low couch, landing squarely in his lap.

 

* * *

 

As the woman flung her arms out towards his neck, Maurice's eyes widened. Did she mean to try and strangle him? His offense had not been that great, had it?

 

But before he could decide what to do, she overreached and landed in a heap on his lap.

He gave a huff of surprise. But she was not trying to attack him.

 

"Well, that didn't work quite right," she scolded herself, laughing. At least, he was almost sure she was really laughing this time.

 

So, he laughed back.

 

"Sorry about that," she apologized. "Guess I'd make a terrible circus woman, huh." He had mentioned to her that was when he learned to sign, in his circus where he was born.

 

"Dead circus woman," he told her bluntly, helping her to sit up properly and letting her lean against him.

 

"Ouch, that's cold. Why'd you say that?" Karin objected, pouting a little.

 

"Karin falls down a lot," Maurice commented dryly. "Circus woman who falls down a lot dies."

 

"Guess I'd better stay away from circus's, then. But would you believe I used to be a dancer?" Karin asked him. "When I'm feeling better, I'll show you, sometime. Not that I'm very good at it anymore," she added quickly.

 

Once Karin caught her breath a little, he sat her back down on her couch. And insisted that she eat something.

 

Later, he asked her about the battered old book. She told him it had once been something that held a part of the sum of human knowledge. Then, she admitted to him that she had been trying to look up Orangutans in that book.

 

He had been surprised, and yes, more than a little flattered by that. He was almost as disappointed as she had been to find out that those pages were gone or mangled beyond recognition.

 

"What did Karin want to know?" he asked. When she had replied, "Everything," he had chuckled at that.

 

"Everything is a lot," he told her. "Even I don't know everything. So, how could your book know anything?"

 

"Well, it doesn't anymore," Karin said. "The moths and time have eaten it all away."

 

Saying this seemed to make her so sad. So, Maurice started telling her of funny things, like something one of the children had said or done. When he talked of the Ape children, she looked a little sad, but at the same time, hearing of them seemed to sooth something within her.

 

When it was time for him to leave her, he hesitated. They stood together at her closed front door, and he gently touched her shoulder.

 

"I am worried for you," he rumbled quietly.

 

"My head is getting better," she objected.

 

But he sighed.

"Not that." He reached out and laid his fingers against her forehead. The swelling did seem to be going away. But that was not what frightened him.

 

"I do not like leaving you alone," he admitted.

 

She flung her arms around him again, but did not fall down this time. He guessed this was what she had meant to do before. It was a nice gesture, and he returned it.

After a time, she drew away to look in to his face.

 

"I've lived alone here for a very long time, Maurice," she told him matter-of-factly. "I'm used to it by now."

 

"That is not right," he shot back.

 

"Well I'd love to have you stay around, Big Guy, but you can't," Karin said, trying to smile. "You got responsibilities at home. So, what choice do I have."

 

That was part of Maurice's deep frustrations. He had a home, one he could easily build on to, if more room was needed. He had a large extended family of all kinds of Apes, but he knew he could not invite her to be a part of any of that, not yet. Not because of Caesar's reactions, but because of some of the others. He would just be introducing her to even more dangers.

 

"You'd better get going," she sighed. "Go on, don't make this harder on both of us. Just … come bac, when you can."

 

So, she did not want him to leave either. Unless this was another Ape Human miscommunication. He hoped not.

 

"I will come back," he promised her, signing and speaking the words out loud. "Karin stay safe till I do."

 

"Yes Sir," she said crisply, pretending to give him a solute. "Orders received, Sir!"

 

He did not know exactly what that meant, but guessed she was trying to be funny.

 

They both laughed again. And she hugged him again.

And, sadly, he left her again, but he could not help looking back more and more. Once he could no longer see her sweet sad human face pressed against the glass of her window, Maurice headed home with a heavier heart than ever before.

 

 

They were not totally alone, but neither the old Orangutan or the human woman knew it.

Hidden in the trees near the well-sheltered human dwelling, a shadow lurked. It could not see a lot, but it could hear very well.

 

It saw Maurice enter the human dwelling. It heard the woman's voice … the human woman's voice, raised in agitation.

It even heard Maurice's low growl, and for a moment, it sensed the old Orangutan's sudden protective rage.

 

Thinking it was caught, and trembling in sudden dread, it drew well back. It did not want the old Orangutan to catch it, not yet.

 

What was he doing here in secret with this human female? Not training her in proper respectful human behavior towards apes, that was almost certain. No, Maurice was far too tender-hearted to teach these humans their proper place in the world.

 

But unless he planned to claim her and bring her back to the Ape village, and that did not seem likely, Maurice could not stay with the human female all the time. She would be alone and unguarded sooner or later. Then, she would learn her place.

 

The unseen Watcher knew that far too much leniency had been given to this human female because of her little child. But, there was no sign of the little female around her home now. Was it dead? It didn't matter, but if so, maybe that was for the better.

 

Not ready to act just yet, the shadow slipped silently back to the Ape village. No one seemed to notice.


	8. Chapter 8

Maurice saw young Mary cleaning up after that morning’s class as he arrived. The poor child looked very harassed. Instantly, the Orangutan knew what must have happened. He had been through it before, many times.

“You’re right,” Mary told him. “They can be a handful.”

“I did try and warn you,” he advised gravely.

Maurice smiled indulgently at the young Ape girl and began to help her pick up scattered materials.

“The new has finally worn off for them, has it?” he teased her fondly.

“I guess so,” Mary sighed.

When they had put the school area in order, Maurice put a comforting hand on Mary’s shoulder.

“It happens to me, too. Probably more than you, I imagine. Don’t take it too hard. You have good days and then you have bad ones,” he mused philosophically.

Mary started to smile at him, but it faltered as she looked at the older Orangutan more closely.

“Are you having bad days then, Uncle,” she murmured, her eyes troubled.

Gazing down at her, Maurice ruffled her fur.

‘Now what would make you say that?” he signed, trying to phrase it as lightly as he could manage.

“I’m not blind, Uncle. You’ve just looked so … sad and far away sometimes,” Mary told him. “Mostly when you don’t think anyone is watching. What’s making you so sad? Can I help?”

_Precious_ child, Maurice thought.

He put his arms about the girl and hugged her close. She tolerated this for a minute, then squirmed out of his gentle grip.

Mary put her hands on her hips in a gesture that always reminded Maurice of some human women he used to see around the circus. It even reminded him a little of Karin when she was feeling her most ferocious. He watched as she fixed him with a stare that, while not nearly as cold or hard as her Father’s, held more than a hint of Koba’s steel in its depths.

“That’s not an answer, Uncle,” Koba’s daughter said in that blunt way she had when the adults were ignoring her questions.

“Sometimes, little one, there are no easy answers,” Maurice told her.

“Why not,” she demanded. “It was a simple enough question, wasn’t it? What’s making you so sad?”

“When you become an adult, little one, you’ll understand that there are no easy answers and even fewer truly simple questions,” Maurice advised the child.

_Mary the stubborn_ , Maurice mused.

 She was not deterred.

“They’re starting to talk about you, Uncle,” Mary went on more earnestly, leaning in to him and dropping her voice. Mary, unlike most apes, almost always spoke out loud even when she signed.

“Who is talking about me, Mary,” Maurice signed, concerned not so much about the talk but by how honestly upset Mary seemed by it.

“Most of the kids, and some of the older females, too. There saying—”

Maurice watched in amazement as, for the first time since she learned to communicate, Mary stopped talking out loud and signed her next words in total silence. Maurice knew that it must be serious.

“They’re saying you’ve got a female somewhere that you visit every night. Is it true, Uncle? Why don’t you just bring her to the village?”

Maurice was staggered by the child’s statement. He stared down at Mary, honestly not knowing what to say to that at all.

“Now, don’t badger him, Mary.”

They both jumped.

Quietly, Cornelia had come up on the scene and Maurice was almost glad to see her … almost.

“I think your Father is looking for you, darling,” Cornelia told the younger Ape female.

“No, he isn’t,” Mary started to protest. “Papa is out hunting now, and—”

She faltered a little under Cornelia’s gaze.

“Oh, alright. But can I tell him just one more thing,” Mary asked, speaking out loud again.

“Can we really stop you?” Cornelia signed, laughing.

Mary stepped close to Maurice. She stretched up at far as she could, but to help her, Maurice leaned down towards the child so she could whisper in his ear

“I found the flashlight,” she whispered.

Not giving him or Cornelia time to react, the girl turned and ran towards her home … just in case her Father really was looking for her. Never a good idea to keep Papa waiting long.

“That child is really going to be something someday,” Maurice mused.

“Yes, she is,” Cornelia said thoughtfully. “I was wondering if you’d come with us and help us forage for our medicine plants, Maurice?” the Ape Queen asked.

Not an unusual request. Maurice and many of the mature Orangutans often accompanied the females on these foraging excursions. But something told Maurice that Cornelia had more on her mind, and she just wanted an excuse to get him out of the village to talk with him.

And, he was right. not long in to the foraging trip, Cornelia took Maurice with her slightly away from the others.

Once they were out of sight of the main party, Cornelia stopped and turned to her and Caesar’s old friend.

“Mary is right, Maurice,” Cornelia signed. “Rumors have started going around.”

Maurice started to protest, but Cornelia stop him with one raised hand.

“Maurice, you’re an adult mature male, older than me and Caesar. You can come and go as you please, of course. It’s not my place to tell you how to behave. But we are all worried, Caesar and me and everyone. If it’s true, and you do have a female somewhere and I can do anything to help you or her, I hope you won’t hesitate to come to me.”

Cornelia extended one hand. Maurice offered his palm to her, but instead of swiping it in a gesture of her dominant female status, Cornelia dropped something in to the Orangutan’s hand. It was so light that he almost missed it. Looking down, he saw a few very familiar black human hairs resting in his palm

_She must have found them the morning she came to wake me up for_ classes, Maurice thought, feeling stricken.

His fingers curled protectively around the few hairs. He was rocked to his core for the second time that day. Slowly, he raised his eyes to meet Cornelia’s gaze.

“That is the person who has been leaving us the winter food gifts, isn’t it,” Cornelia signed, her face mirroring her gentle concern.

Maurice nodded.

“It is a she, right? Is she ill or hurt?” Cornelia asked.

“She hit her head,” Maurice explained. It was almost a relief to be able to tell someone. “but She’s getting much better. But--”

Cornelia patted his hand.

“She is all alone, Cornelia,”

Maurice felt a wave of relief as he was finally able to say that out loud to someone else.

“I’m sure she is getting better, with you looking after her,” Cornelia praised. “but, what? Completely alone, you mean?”

“Yes,” the Orangutan signed, his whole body seeming to droop with worry. “Her only daughter is dead. Her family is either dead or scattered and out of reach. She is truly alone, and I fear for her.”

Cornelia shuddered. Maurice could see that Cornelia understood his fears. He could also see the sympathy for a human woman she had never met plain in the Ape Queen’s eyes.

“Oh, her poor child! That’s horrible, to be all alone,” Cornelia signed. “We have to do something … let me think about that for a bit.”

“But, my offer still stands, Maurice,” Cornelia went on more soberly. “If I can help your female—”

Maurice tensed, but Cornelia did not give him time to protest before she diverted herself.

“I mean, if I can help your new human friend,” Cornelia amended her first statement. “I want to help. She gives to us so why shouldn’t we help her.”

“I think you should tell Caesar though, Maurice,” Cornelia advised. “for his peace of mind, if nothing else. You know you’re his closest friend. He is very worried about you.”

“What’s her name, your female … I mean, your friend?” Cornelia asked.

The Orangutan smiled.

“Karin,” Maurice rumbled the name out loud.

Cornelia gave him a surprised look. Then, she grinned at him. There was another look, almost a knowing smile, on Cornelia’s face that disturbed Maurice. But, before he could ask her to explain, she took them both back to foraging.

* * *

 

 

He was in a hurry to get back to Karin. But when the evening meal was over, Maurice thought he felt Caesar’s eyes on him more than usual. So, once the meal was done, Maurice gave his friend a little time to himself but very little, before approaching him.

“Caesar, we need to talk,” Maurice signed gravely.

To Maurice’s surprise, or maybe not, Caesar seemed to have been expecting this. Had Cornelia already warned him? A part of Maurice wished she had just come out and told Caesar what she had learned, and he would not have to admit keeping secrets from his Leader and friend.

Maurice followed Caesar  to one of the spots where the Ape Leader  went to think alone, usually about serious matters. The view from the top of that particular tree was spectacular, but Maurice was in no mood to enjoy it tonight.

“You have something to tell me?” Caesar signed.

Taking a deep breath, Maurice raised his hands and just plunged right in.

“I did find out who has been  leaving us the food in the wintertime. It’s a human woman named Karin. She got hurt out in the forest, and I’ve been leaving the village at dusk to take care of her.”

The Orangutan almost managed to sign all that in one sentence. When he finally stopped and looked in to Caesar’s eyes. His Leader was almost grinning at him.

“Now that was not so hard to say was it?” Caesar teased. “But I do understand why you did not make it a public announcement. How badly is your female hurt?”

  
_Oh no, not him, too!_

Maurice snorted again  in protest. Why was everyone calling Karin _his_ female?

Caesar gave a gentle hoot of laughter.

“Your friend, how badly is she hurt?” he repeated his question, closely echoing his wife from a few hours earlier and seeming as amused by Maurice’s reaction as Cornelia had been.

“She’s recovering,” Maurice signed.

“And her family?”

“She has no one else, Caesar. She had a little daughter who died sometime back. Her Father died not long after you freed us. The rest of her family are dead … or  forever lost.”

Maurice saw almost as much sympathy flicker across Caesar’s face as he had seen on Cornelia’s.

“It is bad, to be alone. Especially for a human female,” the Ape Leader murmured out loud.

Wait here,” Caesar commanded, and fled to  his home. He was back a few moment later.

“Give this back to your, uh, your friend,” he said, putting the tiny light in to Maurice’s large hand. “She needs it more than we do.”

“but Mary told me she found this,” Maurice protested.

“She did, and she gave it to me. The child is not stupid enough to keep this in her own home. Can you imagine her Father’s reaction?”

Maurice could imagine it very well. That was the problem.

“I need to talk more about this with Cornelia,” Caesar told his friend. “But that can happen tomorrow. Now, aren’t you late?”

Maurice blinked.

The Ape leader openly grinned this time.

“As the humans used to say, it’s not nice to keep a lady waiting.”


	9. Chapter 9

Something was different. Karin knew that from the minute she woke up that morning, but it was so unusual that took her a few moments to figure out what it was.

She felt good.

NO, not perfect. Her head still ached a little, and her forehead was turning several interesting shades of orange and yellow. But most of the pain was gone, replaced by a nagging itch that she was not totally successful at leaving alone. There were the usual minor aches and pains from her joints or from old injuries. But, overall, she felt good.

And that had not happened in a very long time.

She was also quite hungry. Normally, Karin waited until hunger almost overwhelmed her before dragging out some of those survival rations and mechanically stuffing them in to her mouth. But this time, she dragged herself out of bed and in to her kitchen and ate a real breakfast. Of some dried fruits and nuts and a little of the canned bacon.

_Oh! Why did I try this stuff_ , she thought, grimacing in disgust? _Now what sick sadistic man ever thought about canning bacon?_

_She gave up fast on the bacon, though. Not good_ , she thought, staring at the remainder of the canned food with disgust and a slight queasy feeling. According to its date, it should not have expired, but still …

_Leave it up to my old man to try this stuff. There's one for the compost heap_ , Karin told herself. I _bet the bears won't even eat this when I dump it out._

Finishing her breakfast, she put the scraps, mostly the horrible fake bacon, in to the pail she used for just such a purpose. Then, she rounded up her empty plastic containers, and pulled out the foldable cart from the kitchen closet. She loaded it up and headed outside, Time to go fetch more water.

The rain barrels were situated out back of the house. At first, the long rips in the cloths Karin used to help filter the water did not concern her. Occasionally, a thirsty bear might come along, and not bother to remove her filter but tear straight through it. But After she had filled her last container and heaved it in to the cart, something next to the barrels caught her eye. One barrel had a very small slow leak, and in the damp soil, there was a footprint. A large footprint that did not resemble a bear.

_Maybe … maybe it was Maurice?_

But the print did not match Maurice's foot, and she knew it.

Her good feeling was rapidly evaporating, being replaced by a definite feeling of being plain old spooked. As she rushed to refill all her water containers, her eyes kept scanning her surroundings. She thought she felt eyes on her back as she worked.

_But if he/she or it doesn't want me to see, I won't,_ she thought. _Not until it's too late, anyway._

"Stop that!" she hissed out loud to herself. "Karin Evans, now you just stop that!"

But the sound of her own hoarse whispering voice creeped her out even more.

She grabbed the handles of her cart and marched around to the front of her house. But before she could go inside, a rock came whizzing past her face.

With an involuntary cry of fright, Karin ducked, but not fast enough. It grazed her cheek, drawing out a long thin line of blood. Wincing, Karin touched her fingertips to the spot. They came back red.

"Son of a …"

Without thinking, she bent down and seized the rock, cutting her hand on a very sharp edge, a finely-honed edge. _The think could have done a lot more damage than just a scratch_ , she thought.

Remembering her miserable childhood, and the only few good memories those of playing ball with her older brothers, she gripped the rock harder, ignoring the sharp pain. The rock became slick with her own blood. Then, with a scream of fear and rage, mostly rage, she wound up and hurled it as hard as she could in the direction she thought it had come. She did not really expect it to find its mark, but it made her feel a little better, anyway.

Karin pressed her back against the solid stone wall of the house for some protection.

"Hey," she shrieked in to the supposed empty woods around her. "Hey you! You want me out, you're gonna have to do a lot better than that! I'm not bothering you so just leave me ALONE!"

Trembling, Karin grabbed her cart full of water and dashed in to her house, slamming and locking all the locks on her very solid door.

She was so flustered that she did not even notice the smears of blood she left across her door.

_Dad, I'm sorry about all those times I complained about your paranoia_ , Karin silently told her long dead parent. It looked like the old man's mental illness just might come in handy after all.

* * *

Maurice's mind was still in a bit of a whirl even as he made his way to Karin's house. She was not his secret anymore, not now that both Caesar and Cornelia knew what was going on.

_Had he done the right thing? The poor old Orangutan just didn't know._

_And what will those two cook up between them_ , Maurice wondered as he swung through the trees. Knowing the pair, there was no way to guess. None.

_How am I going to break this to Karin_ , was his next set of worries? She was unlikely to be happy when she found out that more Apes know about her. Maurice knew she was frightened of Apes in general, frightened of almost everything, really, and not just Apes. Was it her isolation that had done that? He did not think so, not entirely.

What he did not know, and had not yet come up with a gentle way to ask, was why she was so frightened of Apes? Had something happened, maybe in the recent past? Had she met other Apes, and not in good circumstances?

_I hope Apes weren't directly responsible for the death of her child_. Maurice did not think so, being almost certain Karin had mentioned something vague about her daughter being ill. He prayed it was not Apes who killed little Lisa.

It was almost a shock when the Orangutan found himself entering Karin's little clearing. He had not realized he had been traveling so fast.

He smiled as he approached the house. And then, he froze in his tracks. Lifting his head, he sniffed the air.

_Blood! Human blood!_

There was not a lot. He found a few small drops soaking in to the dirt, but what really got his attention was the several smears of drying blood on Karin's front door.

The big Orangutan struggled to keep himself under control. He did not want to frighten her again with another needless outburst. But the blood was nearly dry. It had obviously been there for hours, maybe since that morning.

All the worst possibilities flashed through Maurice's mind as he raised his hand, and pounded on Karin's door. Yes, it was not his usual polite knock. He hoped she would forgive his lack of manners in the current situation. And, if he had to break her door down, he hoped she would forgive that, too.

_I'll help her fix it!_

Hearing nothing, he pounded again, harder.

"Karin!" he cried her name in to the silence. "Karin!"

Something at the back of the house shattered, and he heard a woman swear quite colorfully.

_Well, at least she's awake,_ he almost grinned as footsteps rushed towards the door.

The peephole in the door slid open.

"Maurice?" Karin's hushed voice said through the tiny slit.

He softly rumbled at her, trying to sound less threatening and more soothing.

"Jesus!" was all she said before closing the peephole and starting to open her door.

It took her a moment. Maurice could hear her disengaging locks that he had not even known were present on the door. Once she had it open, he had to fling his arms out quickly to catch her. The poor woman practically threw herself at him. She clung tightly to him for a moment.

"Get in, quick," she urged. "and for God's sake, close that door!"

He allowed her to pull him in to the house, and nudged the door shut with his foot. She released him then, turning back to her door and re-engaging her locks. The sound of so many locks clicking in to place was not a pleasant one for Maurice, but he let it go. He knew she was not trying to cage him. She was obviously trying to keep something else out.

And, in the faint light thrown by her battery-powered lamp, he knew right away that something else was wrong. As she turned back to him, he reached out one large hand and gently cupped her face. She started to flinch away, then sighed with resignation. She held up a bandaged hand, also.

To his credit, Maurice did not let his basic protective instincts overwhelm him this time, though he badly wanted to let them.

"What happened here?" Maurice asked gently, leading her back to her battered old couch.

Once she was sitting down, Maurice could almost see her weighing what options to tell him. But she caught him a little off guard with a question.

"Maurice, have you been behind my house in the last day or two?"

He blinked.

"No," he answered. "I have never been behind your house. Why?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought," she replied. "But I hoped … Oh, who am I trying to kid. I knew it wasn't you."

Maurice gently took her uninjured hand in his own, and he waited patiently. She was obviously working her way to telling him something important, and he was in no hurry to have to tell her about his conversations with his Leader and his Queen. So, he waited, softly stroking her hand all the while.

"I have rain barrels back there to help collect water," she explained. "One of them has a slow hairline leak in the bottom. And, next to that one I found … I found an Ape's footprint."

Maurice did not like the sound of that.

"When?" he asked.

"This morning, just a little after dawn."

_Oh no! Someone else besides Caesar and Cornelia know about her_.

Maurice did not like this one bit.

The big Orangutan squeezed his friend's hand, in part to comfort her, and in part to keep himself under control. His protective instincts were at war with his higher intelligence again.

"Did an Ape attack you?"

She gave a start, then lowered her eyes before answering.

"n-no," she said very hesitantly.

"Why is it," Maurice said a little irritably. "Why is it that humans often say the opposite of what they really mean?"

"I didn't," she started to protest.

The old Orangutan fixed her with a stern look.

"Oh, fine then," she relented.

He watched as Karin turned her head, and with her free hand clumsily peeled back the bandage on her face.

Maurice gasped out loud when he saw her wound. He was certain he knew what had caused it.

"Someone or something threw a rock at me," she told him unnecessarily.

_Not just a_ rock, Maurice thought, his anger rising.

Maurice let go of her hand and got quickly to his feet.

"What—What's the matter?" she cried, jumping up and following him to her front door.

"Open this, please," he growled at her.

"But where are you going?" she asked even as she fumbled with her various locks.

"To look around," he told her. "I will be back soon. You locked yourself in here when I am gone."

"I'm coming with you,""

She started to follow him outside.

_Females!_ Maurice thought annoyed. _Ape or human, why do they never do as they are told?_

Whirling around, Maurice easily caught the woman by her waist, and firmly set her back inside.

"No! You stay safe here!"

"But it's too dark!" he heard her calling out after him. "You don't know you're way around here!"

Her anguished voice tore at his tender heart. All that was probably true. But he did still have her little light with him. And he would be careful.

"Close and lock your door," he snarled back at her. And, finally she darted back in, slamming the door shut.

He looked back one last time to see her glaring at him from her living room window.

_I'll make it up to her_ , he thought sadly as he headed for the back of her house. _Just as soon as I make sure she's safe._

* * *

Karin paced the inside of her house, fuming. She did not know what there was about a nasty scratch that set Maurice off like that. She had been wishing that she had saved the rock to show him, but now was glad she had thrown it away.

" _idiot," Karin muttered to herself as she stomped back and forth helplessly. "Silly old overprotective Ape."_

_Eventually, she got tired of pacing and stomping around. She flung herself down on her couch, and pulling a lamp close for some light, she pressed her face against a window, waiting for Maurice to return._

_But when more than an hour had passed, and there was still no sign of Maurice, her fear overrode her anger in indignation._

" _I don't care what he wants," she muttered. "I'm going out to look for him. If he's gone off in to the woods behind the house …"_

_Actual terror flooded her. What if he gets attacked by a wildcat or a bear. What if he misjudges in the dark and falls? What if …_

Stopping her privatewhat ifs, Karin collected a couple of knives, tying one on a rope around her waist and fixing the other smaller one in to a holster that she strapped to her thigh. Again, she blessed her Father's paranoid tendencies for leaving her all this stuff.

_I wish his mind had not gone bad before I found out where the old fool buried the rest of the ammo,_ though, Karin fretted. She had plenty of guns, but her Father had buried the remainder of his ammunitions, and she did not know exactly where, except that it was somewhere in the overgrown back yard.

_No time to go digging for it_ now, she told herself.

Grabbing an extra-large and heavy mag light and a few batteries, she switched on the light and hung it by its strap around her neck and headed out towards the back of her house.

It was easy enough to find Maurice's footprints near the one leaking water barrel. After that, it became more of a challenge, and Karin was not a trained tracker of anything, let alone an orangutan who would probably be taking to the trees.

"Maurice," she stage-whispered as she entered the surrounding woods with much hesitation. "where are you? If you get us both killed, I'll never forgive you for it."

It did not take long before Karin had to face the fact that she would never find Maurice in the darkened woods. Not unless he wanted her too, and he wanted her to stay in the house. She was just about to start back, when a rending crash made her jump.

"Oh, God! Maurice?" she shrieked, running towards the sound.

It was not hard to find the toppled tree. She nearly fell over it, in fact. And beneath it was a large mound of fur.

"Maurice?" Karin cried.

She tried to pull him out from beneath the tree, but he was too heavy. And he was good and pinned down. The weight of the giant old tree was not helping matters, either, Karin pushed and pulled and clawed uselessly at the old tree, but the only thing that did was to re-open the wound on the one hand while badly cutting and scraping the other.

Getting hold of herself, the frantic woman stopped fighting with the tree.

"One of my crazy old Dad's stupid traps," Karin sobbed. "I tried to warn you, but you wouldn't listen."

But the old Orangutan was not listening now. He was unconscious. It appeared to Karin as if the tree had first fallen and landed on his chest. Before he fell unconscious, he must have been able to shift it lower to where it only now pinned his lower body, instead.

"Busted ribs, punctured lungs. Oh God, Maurice."

Karin was openly weeping now. But she knew what she had to do.

"Don't you dare die on me before I get back," she commanded the unconscious Ape tearfully.

Then, she fled back to her house, running faster than she had ever run in her life. Snatching up a compass, she headed away from the house in the opposite direction.

Karin did not even try to find easy trails. She just kept running, barreling her way forward. She ran and jumped and tripped over limbs and rocks, but always got up and kept going. She was sure she was heading in the right general direction. And, making enough noise to wake the dead or any predator nearby.

Though she was already badly scraped and bruised and bleeding, her fear for Maurice outweighed any fears for her own life.

When she thought she might be close enough, Karin mustered her strength and began to scream with all her might.

"Help?" Karin screamed in to the darkness. "Caesar! Anyone, help, please? Maurice needs help! CAESAR! CAESAR!"

She kept screaming out the Ape Leaders name as she ran. Dizziness and her own blood loss began to overtake her, but she would not let herself fall. Then, she reeled forward and slammed straight in to something very large, solid and very hairy.

_Bear!_ That was her first panicked thought. But before she could go for one of her knives, she was hoisted up off the ground by her upper arms. Still crying out for Caesar, Karin kicked and screamed until the thing slapped a hand over her face. This still did not completely quiet her, so she was pulled in to its big chest hard enough to knock the breath out of her. She was roughly searched, her knives taken. She was held out away from the big furry chest, dangling in mid-air by her arms, and before it was ripped away from her by another big furry thing nearby, her light showed the heavy-browed face of King Kong gaping at her in utter astonishment.

The huge gorillas amazed expression might have been funny, if things weren't so serious. But Karin had done what she'd wanted to do. She had found Maurice's people.

Karin Evans had found the Apes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who has read this story and left Kudos. A special thanks to everyone who has read and left comments. Both are always more than welcome.


	10. Chapter 10

After Blue Eyes had gone to sleep, Caesar had stayed up late talking over Maurice’s new adventures and his new human friend with Cornelia. Nothing definite had been decided, but they both did want to do something to help this lone human female. If Maurice was this concerned, and according to Cornelia so very attached to the woman, Caesar felt they could do nothing less. After all, her dried foods had been a big help especially when the winter was so hard it was difficult for even Apes to hunt and forage. She had made the winters much more comfortable for them. What could they do to make life more comfortable for her in return?

How could they help her without frightening her? That was the big question that neither Caesar or his wife had an answer too just yet. The other looming question was how to tell the village about her, they had not even discussed yet.

He fell asleep mulling all this over in his mind.

“Caesar!!!”

The Ape Leader turned a little restlessly in his sleep. Why was Caroline calling for him? He was certain he’d picked up all his puzzles from the living room floor and put them away. Well, he was almost sure.

“Caesar!”

She was not just calling for him, she was screaming for him. What was wrong? Was Charles hurt?

“… Maurice is … Cae-sar!!!”

“Yes, Caroline. I am coming,” he muttered.

_Wait! Why is Caroline talking about Maurice? She doesn’t know him?_ Caesar wondered even in his dream state.

Grumbling a little, the Ape Leader started to rouse himself, but the short alarm bark from outside brought him fully awake and out of bed in an instant

“Luca,” he gasped.

Glancing over, he saw that Cornelia was already awake, and restraining an anxious blue Eyes, who obviously wanted to run out and see what was wrong.

“No!” Caesar signed to his young son.

“You both stay here,” he signed to his worried wife.

As he vaulted from his home, he almost crashed straight in to Koba. Koba’s young daughter was behind her Father, her eyes wide.

“Luca caught humans!” Koba snarled.

“Go to Cornelia and stay with her,” Caesar told Mary, speaking out loud.

The little Ape girl moved to obey Caesar without a word of complaint.

“Koba, stay here. Guard family!” he commanded his top hunter and Warrior.

Then he headed at a dead run to the outer walls. Rocket was immediately at his side.

“Caesar, I can’t find Maurice? He isn’t in his home,” Rocket signed, nearly frantic with worry.

But this did not concern Caesar. He knew Maurice would not be home. And, now, as he came nearer and saw what looked to be Luca holding a ragdoll in one arm, a ragdoll that struggled weakly, Caesar thought he knew who had been screaming for him. What he did not know yet was why?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, and thanks to all my readers. A special thanks to anyone who commented on this story. Please keep the kudos and comments coming, folks.


	11. Chapter 11

After swatting away one or two more curious of his comrades for pawing at her too much, she thought, King Kong had loosened his grip quite a bit, but he did not seem ready to put Karin down anytime soon. Given the rising sounds of alarm she could hear nearby, she was not sure if she entirely minded. She was so dizzy now and out of breath that she feared she might collapse if he did set her down. And the big Ape’s grip was no longer hard and immobilizing. Restraining, yes, but it felt almost protective.

She leaned against his chest as she fought to get her breath back.

“Please, I need Caesar?” she finally gasped to the huge gorilla. “Maurice is hurt.”

The gorilla gave a visible start at that. Karin felt him shifting her around, and saw him trying to sign to her one handed. She was cheered a little bit by and did appreciate the gorilla’s attempts to communicate, but he was signing far too quickly for her limited understanding.

_How can anyone sign that well and one-handed_ , Karin wondered, amazed.

“You’re going to fast! I don’t know that much sign yet?” Karin cried. “Maurice hasn’t been teaching me that long. Please, just take me to Caesar! It’s life or death! Please?”

“Caesar…comes…now,” the big gorilla said out loud to her.

His speech was slow, but clear.

“Oh, thank you!” Karin gulped. She sobbed with sheer relief.

“Thank you!”

“Welcome,” the big gorilla grunted.

The world was threatening to go tilt much worse for her now. Karin bit her lip hard as the blood ran from the re-opened wound on her head and in to her eyes. The pain from her bit lip helped to keep her conscious.

“I can’t go to sleep,” she muttered almost to herself. “I can’t … Maurice … Please don’t make me sleep? I have to help Maurice first.”

To her utter amazement, the gorilla she was thinking of as King Kong took one huge hand, probably the one he had so recently slapped over her mouth, but this time he gently wiped her face with it. She was reminded very strongly of Maurice’s comforting gestures, and thanked whatever God might exist that she had not fallen in to the hands of an Ape of a more brutal nature, not this time.

“Give her to me.”

Karin heard the rough voice. It sounded as if it came from a very long way away. The next thing she knew, King Kong was holding her out in his big hands, and another Ape was taking hold of her.

‘NO!” Karin roused herself enough to cry out. She tried to keep hold of King Kong’s fur, but it was no use. She was handed, albeit quite gently, straight in to the arms of another Ape.

“I need Caesar! Don’t you understand me?” She shrieked angrily.

“I … am … Caesar,” the gruff voice spoke again as the Ape pulled her against his chest. “Are you Karin? Tel me … what is wrong, Karin?”

_Oh, no! He knows my name!_

Karin tried to blink the blood from her eyes to get a clearer look at him. Maurice had described him to her very well, but all she could see above her through the red haze of blood and her tears was a big blur.

Oh God!” Karin wept. “Maurice is hurt. Tree, big old tree, it fell on him. I couldn’t move it! Had to get help … for Maurice …”

Karin groaned as she felt Caesar whip around and dimly heard him calling to the other apes. His sudden motion made her head swim even more. In desperation, she raised one hand and raked her nails down her good cheek, drawing even more blood. But at least the pain woke her up again.

‘NO!” Caesar barked, and first she was not sure he was speaking to her. But when he caught her hand firmly in his before she could use her nails on her face again, she got the message.

“You don’t hurt,” he commanded her.

“I have to stay awake!” she exclaimed in desperation. “I have to show you where Maurice is!”

“You … talk … do not hurt. Talk to me … and you will stay awake,” Caesar insisted.

“Talk?” Karin murmured faintly.

She thought she heard horses approaching.

“Luca, hold her,” Caesar commanded, and Karin felt herself transferred yet again. But this chest was a familiar one, so she did not protest.

“Oh, Hiya King Kong,” she murmured fuzzily, gazing blearily up in to the gorilla’s slightly familiar face.

“Luca,” she thought that she heard Caesar chuckle, and then she was passed back to Caesar. They now sat atop a horse. She was cradled against his body, his arms supporting her even as he gripped his horse’s mane.

“Which way,” Caesar asked as other Apes mounted up around them.

“My light?” she started to ask, but it was handed to her by another Ape. She thought this was a hairless one.

Turning it on, she winced as it stabbed her eyes. Shining it around ahead of her, she quickly got enough of her Barings to point them in the right direction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again, faithful long-suffering readers. Hope you're enjoying the updates. Please keep the comments and/or kudos coming.


	12. Chapter 12

A short time later, the small party of Apes and one human rode carefully through the forest. Caesar and Karin were flanked on the left and right by Luca and Rocket. Two other gorillas flanked a female chimpanzee called Sparrow, the camp’s best Healer. They rode directly behind Caesar.

“Please tell me,” Caesar spoke, his voice quiet but enough to keep unconsciousness at bay. “Tell me … about how you know Maurice?”

Karin knew there were apes on all sides of her, left right and behind. If she told Caesar, the closest apes, almost the hairless one, the big gorilla she thought of as King Kong and whom Caesar had called Luca, and some of the others would hear her story. But she figured there was no help for it. If she did not start talking soon, she would pass out. And Caesar had made it absolutely clear he was not going to let her hurt herself again, not so much as a minor scratch.

And, maybe if she was completely honest with these apes, maybe they would let her see Maurice again. This was why she started talking so much. The horse’s motion was aggravating her headache enough to keep her well and truly conscious.

“It wasn’t his fault,” Karin began her story. “It was mine. I did something stupid and hurt myself in the forest at night. I knocked myself out. I know he should have left me to die, or killed me himself. But, he didn’t. He carried me back home. He’s been trying to take care of me ever since.”

“Why,” Caesar interrupted her, deeply disturbed by some of her words. “Why should he have left you to die … or killed you?”

Karin blinked in surprise.

“But that’s your law, isn’t it?” She asked.

“That all humans who come near your Colony should be killed?”

The Ape Leader’s breath caught in his throat.

“did Maurice tell you that?” Caesar asked, not trying to hide the shock in his voice.

“No,” Karin admitted as she directed them to the left.

“NO, of course not. Not Maurice … another Ape told me … years ago. Real angry chimpanzee, I think he was a chimp. He really hates us. He said the Apes would be coming for me someday. He said you would kill me, but …”

Her words spilled out and began to tumble over themselves as she remembered things she wanted to forget forever.

“…but if I behaved myself, maybe my child would be spared. Maybe me, too. Maybe she and I would be allowed to serve the Apes.”

Caesar gave a low growl, and Karin trembled even more.

She placed one hand imploringly over Caesar’s on the horse’s neck.

“Please,” she begged. “Please, do whatever you want to me. But don’t punish Maurice. And just let me see he’s okay before I die? If I know Maurice is okay, I can die in peace.”

* * *

 

Caesar struggled to get his outrage under control before he spoke. He gave a sharp look aside to Luca and Rocket, who were also growling under their breath. If they didn’t stop, Caesar was afraid the woman would die just from trembling and trying to catch her breath. What had Will called it, hyper … something

The Ape Leader carefully tightened his arms around the ragged human woman. He thought he could almost feel her ribs through her thread bear clothing. He hoped she would know he meant to comfort, not to hurt her.

“No one … is going to kill you, Karin,” he told the frightened woman.

“I give you my word. NO Ape will hurt you or your daughter. And my word is Ape law.”

Luca and Rocket both nodded emphatically, but Caesar doubted the woman could see them through her tears.

From behind him, he heard a gentle sob. Taking a quick look over his shoulder, he saw young Sparrow crying quietly. Sparrow briefly met her Leader’s eyes, and Caesar knew what she was thinking. This Ape Karin talked about had obviously done much more than just threaten her with harsh words. Just how much more, Caesar was afraid to learn.

“Lisa’s dead,” the woman said. “She’s been gone for well more than a year now, I figured the only reason I was still alive was because of Lisa. Since she’s been gone, well, I’ve been expecting you guys to show up.”

_And yet she still ventured out two or three times a year and in the bitter cold to deliver her packages_ , Caesar thought.

“Not … Ape?” Caesar asked, praying her answer would be no.

“Your daughter, she was not killed by ape?”

“NO, not Ape,” she answered his prayers, and Caesar let out the breath he had not realized he had been holding in all that time. “My beautiful baby girl was not well, from the time she was born. I don’t’ know how she lasted as long as she did, but no Ape killed her. She died in her sleep one night.”

Caesar felt a sharp stab of pity for the woman. He could not help thinking of Blue Eyes at home. He did not know what he would do if his son ever died before him, but he was certain that he would never be able to get over it.

“I … am sorry … about your daughter,” Caesar said simply. “I … I am a parent, too. And … I am sorry … about Apes threats. We will protect you from now on. We will help Maurice protect you.”

“You sound just like Maurice,” Karin gave a shaky little laugh. Then she started to cry again.

“That’s why Maurice is hurt,” she blurted out. “Someone threw a rock at me earlier yesterday morning. It was honed to a sharp point. It cut my face open. There was an Ape footprint by my water barrels, too. Maurice was furious. He went out looking for signs of more Apes. I begged him not to go or to take me with him if he did. It’s my families land, I know it like the back of my hand, dark or not. But he made me stay in the house and lock all the doors. But, when he didn’t come back, I said screw it, he’s not my husband and I don’t have to take his orders, and I went out looking for him. And, now he’s out there, hurt because he wanted to protect me!” She finished with a heartbroken wail.

Rocket and Luca both chuckled.

“Sounds like a wife, doesn’t she?” Luca signed, teasing Rocket and Caesar.

Karin thought she saw Caesar giving Luca a fond smile as the big gorilla guided his own horse one handed closer to Caesar’s horse, and gently patted the woman’s head with his other huge hand.

“She’s a brave strong female,” Luca signed after he stopped patting Karin’s bent head. He had stopped embarrassed, the minute he saw Caesar watching him. “Just like a gorilla female would be.”

“What’s he saying?” Karin sniffed, catching the gorilla signing from the corner of her eye but not understanding all of it, except that he was talking about her.

Luca was shaking his head franticly at Caesar, but he pretended not to see it and told her, anyway.

“He says … you are a brave strong female, like gorilla females,” Caesar translated.

He did not entirely disagree with Luca’s assessment. To be threatened and probably much worse, and as utterly terrified as she was and still literally come barreling through the forest at night, practically hurling herself in to their arms. That told him all about the woman that Caesar needed to know. Maurice had made a fine choice, human or not.

“Not hardly,” Karin scoffed. “I’m just desperate. I don’t want Maurice to die! No other male has ever been so kind to me.”

_And, modest too_ , Caesar thought.

“Not you’re Father?” Caesar asked, surprised. “Not your baby’s Father?”

Karin snorted in derision.

“If my babies so-called Daddy is still alive, he better never set a foot on my doorstep ever again!” She declared hotly. “He never wanted Lisa, anyway. Wanted me to abort her … that means kill her before she could be born. He didn’t want to have to pay child support.”

“And, Dad, well he never beat me like he did my older brothers, but his praise was always a little left handed.”

“You know,” She went on to explain. “Stuff like, You’re a real good girl, Karin, good and smart. That’s a good thing, little Darlin, ‘cause you’re so damn ugly no man will ever have you.”

Rocket and Luca both growled low in their throats again, and Caesar winced visibly. Who would say something like that to their own daughter? He could not imagine his human Father Will or his human grandfather, Charles, ever doing that to a child. Even when Charles mind was so sick, he never acted like that.

“We’re almost there. Can’t we go any faster?” Karin complained.

Caesar thought she was also desperate to change the subject. And, relieved, he was more than happy to let her. This poor woman had, from the sound of it and the look of her, had a miserable life even before the humans started dying off. He was ashamed of the thought, but Caesar wondered if she were not better off, now that a lot of humans were dead.

“Not safe, fast riding at night,” Caesar told her. He wished they could go faster, too.

* * *

 

Karin grumbled a little, but she knew Caesar was right. Still, she was impatient. They were getting close.

Suddenly, she straightened against Caesar’s chest, and stabbed her light to the right.

“He’s over there?” Karin exclaimed.

With a sudden burst of strength that he obviously had not expected her to muster, Karin wrenched herself from Caesar’s grip, nearly tumbling from the horse in her haste. She hit the ground hard, rolled over twice, then was up on her feet and running.

“This way,” she called as she ran. She knew Caesar might not be happy with how fast she had bailed out, but she also knew that the Apes would follow her. She did not care if they were angry with her, if she could get to him.

When Karin reached him, Maurice’s eyes were open, and she could not quite read the expression in them as he saw her.

“He’s over here!” she shouted. “Hurry!”

Karin flung herself down beside her friend, placing her hands gently on either side of his face, tenderly cupping his cheek flaps.

“Karin?” The Orangutan asked weakly. “I told you to stay indoors, not to follow me.

“You’re very welcome,” she shot back. “And don’t you dare tell me what to do! You aren’t my husband.”

“Besides, you’re in no position to make me listen, are you,” she added.

“I … I lost your flashlight. I’m sorry,” Maurice said wearily.

“I … do not … believe you!” Karin stammered, infuriated.

“First you tell me I should have stayed indoors, and now you’re worried about my damn flashlight? I don’t care about the damn flashlight. I care about you. You are stuck under a tree, in case you didn’t know. I went for help.”

She saw Maurice’s eyes go wide. If his arms had not been pinned down, Karin was sure he would have been grabbing her hands in alarm.

“OH, Karin! What have you done?” He asked.

“What she has done, old friend, is save your life,” a low gruff voice spoke right next to them, almost right in to Karin’s ear.

Karin nearly jumped out of her skin. She had been so intent on Maurice that she had not even heard the Ape’s approaching.

“Caesar,” Maurice breathed.

But Caesar knelt next to Karin, and put a hand on his old friend’s forehead.

“Lie still and don’t talk, Maurice. We’ll take you home now.”

“Caesar,” Maurice insisted. “Caesar, promise me you’ll look after Karin … until I can again.”

Karin opened her mouth to protest, but Caesar did not give her the chance. He placed his other hand gently on Karin’s head.

“I give you my word, Maurice. She is under my personal protection now. I will care for her.”

Luca and the other two gorillas were easily lifting the tree away from Maurice. Karin was a bit astonished and a little frightened by how easily they tossed the huge thing aside.

‘Oh, good,” Maurice breath, then he began to cough painfully. “I can sleep now.”

His eyes closed.

Karin panicked.

“Maurice?” both Karin and Caesar cried in unison.

But Sparrow was there, and she quickly hushed them both.

“Oh, Maurice! What … what’s she saying,” Karin sobbed, sure her friend, her crimson angel, was dead.

“She’s saying we need to shut up now and let Maurice sleep. She’s saying she thinks he will be okay,” Caesar told her. “But he’ll need quiet and rest. See, he still breathes.”

Karin leaned close and could feel Maurice’s breath on her face. A couple of her own tears fell in to the orangutan’s tangled locks.

Caesar sat down and gently pried her hands from Maurice’s face. She did not want to let him go, but knew that the Chimpanzee healer needed room to work. Reluctantly, she let Caesar cradle her in his arms as they both watched Sparrow snapping out her orders to the other apes. Luca and his gorillas were busy breaking the tree in to large sections, mostly with their bare hands, while Rocket was bringing back loads and loads of thick vines and soft leaves.

Caesar started to put Karin down, but Sparrow shook her head at him, and signed something sharply that made the Ape Leader smile and change his mind.

“What?” Karin asked.

“She told me to stay put with you,” Caesar translated. “You need looking after too, Karin. You have lost much blood.”

* * *

 

When Karin did not respond, especially with a protest, Caesar looked down and frowned in deep concern. The human woman was now lying limp and unconscious in his arms. He wondered how she would react as he lay her down and she, too, was gently lashed to Sparrow’s improvised stretcher right next to Maurice. The stretcher was slung between Caesar and Luca’s horses and born gently away to the Ape village. Even if he had not promised Maurice to care for her, Caesar would have brought the human woman with them. It pained him to take her in to the heart of a place filled with people he knew she feared, and not without good reason. But in her condition, and after her story, like Maurice, he dared not leave her alone.

Now came the task of finding out which Ape had harmed her. And Caesar prayed with all his might that his fears and suspicions were wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi folks, The last three chapters actually started life as one big huge chapter, but I thought the word count was too much so I broke it up in to what you've just read. Would you all prefer short or long chapters? Or, just as long as something gets posted, that's what matters? LOL! Please let me know.


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